Caught Between Two Blue Aliens - Celia Kyle Page 0,43

and confirming that they, too, were unenthusiastic about dealing with Secretary Wells. Jenna felt unsafe. She’d outed the secretary and then run away from him. This wasn’t going to go well.

Wells sported a disingenuous smile that didn’t reach his cold eyes. Her heart pounded and she experienced a sudden, powerful lurch in her stomach as her fight-or-flight reaction kicked in. She felt the urge to yank herself free of the Drokten’s grasp and barrel down the hallway in the opposite direction.

Sevith and Hiren seemed to sense her discomfort. Hiren put out a wave of calmness that washed over Jenna like a warm, fragrant breeze. The tension in her shoulders released a little and she inhaled deeply.

Secretary Wells stepped close, looking full to bursting with words. “Ah, Commander Sevith and Ambassador Hiren! We meet again. How fortunate,” he declared loudly, his fake enthusiasm echoing off the marble walls.

“Hello, Secretary Wells,” Hiren replied smoothly.

Sevith merely grunted in response.

“Sorry to impose upon you right now, but I do have some very important security information I must discuss with you two at length.” He glanced over at Jenna. “In private. Without the girl.”

“Secretary Wells,” Hiren began patiently. “After what happened last time, surely you can understand why we are hesitant to humor your policy in that regard.”

“She goes where we go,” Sevith replied flatly.

“Yes,” Hiren agreed. “Jenna Perry is our charge, but even more, she is our Oso. She belongs to us. Therefore, she will not be separated from us.”

A surge of indignation consumed Jenna and she wanted to insist that she did not belong to anyone except herself, but she bit her lip, not wanting to join the fray just yet. So far, the secretary seemed unconcerned with the fact that she’d disappeared from his holding cell and she didn’t want to remind him and awaken his ire.

“Well, now, I have studied the psychology and etiquette of your kind in great detail,” the secretary wheedled. “As far as I know, the mating bond is not instantaneous.”

“What are you attempting to imply?” Hiren ordered. “Speak plainly.”

Secretary Wells glanced at Jenna with a flash of pure, venomous distaste before straightening his false smile and explaining, “You three are not yet fully mated. Correct?”

“The claiming has not been completed. No,” Sevith reluctantly confirmed, his tone wary.

“Well, then, she is not yet yours and is not yet privy to such confidential information between factions,” the secretary explained. “She has not yet achieved the highest level of clearance.”

Jenna sensed both Drokten bristle at the secretary’s words, their need to defend her almost overwhelming. But she silently willed them to stay calm and not cause too much trouble on her behalf. To her surprise, she actually sensed their anger and aggression easing. Huh.

“How long will this take?” Hiren questioned.

Secretary Wells, realizing he’d won the battle if not the war, brightened. “Oh, I imagine it will only take a few moments. Not long, at all, really. I won’t keep you for an extended period,” he insisted. “In fact, we can go into that conference room over there and the girl can wait in the adjoining room. You will be able to keep an eye on her through the window. No tricks. No trouble.”

Funny. Jenna got the sense that something was afoot and the secretary could cause plenty of trouble.

Sevith narrowed his eyes. “Will she be guarded?”

“Yes, of course. I will assign one of my very own aides to stay at her side,” the secretary assured them. “Come now. We have much to discuss and very little time.”

Jenna was uneasy with this plan, but she figured that if Sevith and Hiren could see her, she could keep an eye on them too. And this time she wasn’t being “arrested” by two guards and put in a cell. She was just going to hang out in the next room while they talked business. Maybe there would even be coffee?

So, she reluctantly waved goodbye to her sexy new Drokten boyfriends and walked away with one of the secretary’s uptight aides into a tiny room. She could still sense Sevith and Hiren mentally and emotionally reaching for her as they separated into their own spaces, which soothed her somewhat until they were fully gone, and she lost the feel of their minds. And then she was alone without their presence.

And she didn’t like it.

As soon as the door was shut, the once-quiet aide whirled on her with rage in his eyes. What the hell? Jenna backed away and took a seat at a small